The end is near.
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
38
59
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
Cofradia,
Honduras
Friday, April 25, 2008
The end is near. At this point I am starting to get emotional about leaving the kids behind. Jennifer is the poster child for poverty and parent neglect. She clings to me as if she will never let go. When she comes to school crying it just breaks my heart. Of course I will miss all of my kids but her especially I will worry about her well being. Who will feed her during the summer? What will she end up like? I hope that I can follow up on my students over the years and I can definitely see myself visiting and pitching in whenever I get the chance. A lot of the other volunteers have come back as well. Stephany, a volunteer from two years ago, visits almost every six months! I would love to be able to do that but at this point in my life it will not be feasible.
This week I began "Learning Stations" in kindergarten. I have some really neat puzzles, matching games, and other special toys that I do not like to leave out in the toy room for fear of destruction. I set up six different stations around the room with some of the nice educational games and toys that we have and I give them five minutes at each station and then we rotate. The kids think it is really fun and it gives me a chance to wonder around and quiz them on their numbers, letters, etc. I have been really proud of all the English that I have been learning. We have so many new sets of fabulous flashcards and they pick up on them so quickly.
Sometimes I feel like my kids learn English faster than I learn Spanish! It is still very difficult for me but I continue to study and speak as much as I can. I am jealous of people that can speak several languages (this weekend I met a girl that spoke German, French, Spanish, and English, all fluently). I also met a guy that was dreaming in Spanish after only 15 days... I think I am missing the foreign language part of my brain! I will learn it. I never had a strong desire to learn Spanish until coming here. It makes sense for me to take advantage of the opportunity to learn it and I like the idea that it will basically double the amount of people in the world that I can communicate with. It is becoming increasingly necessary even in the United States. I would like to do more work in Central and South America...
What we are trying to do may be just a drop in the ocean but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. -Mother Teresa
